World Cup Facts

Goalkeeper Dino Zoff of Italy was 40 years old when he captained Italy to victory in 1983, making him the oldest player to win a World Cup.

Franz Beckenbauer is the only man to coach and captain a World Cup winning team, when he led Germany to victory as captain in 1974 and coach in 1990.

Brazil's Valdemar de Brito was the first player to miss a penalty at the World Cup (1934).

Only six nations have won the World Cup as host - Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), Germany (1974), Argentina (1978) and France (1998).

Of the 17 World Cups that have ever been held, six (6) have been won by the host country.

Shirt swapping by players was officially prohibited in 1986 because FIFA did not want players to bare their chests on the field.

The player record for the most World Cup tournament games played belongs to Germany's Lothar Matthaus who played 25 games.

Click here for 2010 World Cup facts and trivia
Click here for the complete World Cup Winners list


More

World Cup Facts & Trivia

No European team has won the World Cup when the tournament has been hosted outside of Europe.

The 1970 World Cup match between El Salvador and Honduras was so highly charged that it sparked a three day war between the two countries.

Germany have been beaten World Cup finalists a record four times (three times as West Germany, and once as a unified nation - Germany).

Seven countries were unbeaten during their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign - the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Korea and Spain.

The most red cards shown in a World Cup match is three. This happened twice - Hungary vs. Brazil (1954) and South Africa vs. Denmark (1998).

Thirteen (13) is the record number of goals scored by a single player at a World Cup finals. This record is held by France's Juste Fontaine who achieved the feat in 1958.

Italy's goalie, Dino Zoff, was 40 when he became the oldest player ever to win the World Cup in 1982.

The most goals scored by a team in a single World Cup tournament, was 27, scored by Hungary at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

More